Frills and Knives
by ArrowsForPens
Summary: [PoRAU, possible spoilers] What if the mercenaries had found Geoffrey instead of Elincia, way back when, and she was captured? Rating for later themes, may go up.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem, or any of these lovely original characters. I may introduce some of my own later, but I promise to have very good reasons for doing so!

A/N: Okay, I admit it, I'm writing this mostly out of a desire to give Elincia a spine. Thus it's going to veer from the real plot at times, and be a tad more politically focused. So sue me. It should still be fun. One more heads-up, the perspective will change every half-chapter. Y'all should get the hang of it. I have very high hopes for this story, ;). Without further ado—

Frills and Knives

I

Elincia stared into the eyes of her captor and tried not to glare. She wasn't sure it was working. He looked down at her from the throne. Her father's throne. Her father's castle.

She mentally shook herself. Mustn't think like that, at least not in the presence of the people she had to deal with. She put on a brave face.

King Ashnard smiled smugly. "Miss Elincia, I understand you have not lived in this castle before."

"I have not had the pleasure," she said it through clenched teeth. She forced her jaw to relax.

He laughed, and it sent shivers down her spine. "Well then, I extend my hospitality. You don't have to stay here, of course, but I can't…" his eyes glittered in a way she didn't like while he paused for effect, "guarantee your safety should you choose to leave."

They'd let her leave? Suddenly, she wanted nothing more than to turn and run. But he was right, there were Daein soldiers saturating the city: as a Crimean royal without his official protection, she didn't stand a chance. So she stood her ground.

"I would be honored," she was forcing the words out, "and I hope that my presence will not be a burden."

"Of course," his voice was somewhere between gruff and malicious. He waved vaguely to a guard. "Show the…" another of those evil pauses, "Princess to her quarters. She can have the queen's chambers. Make sure they are well guarded, we wouldn't want anything… untoward to happen."

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

And as she followed the servant of an enemy, it occurred to Elincia, Princess of Crimea, that this man might kill her yet.

Chapter 1

Today, Ike walked just a tad taller, prouder, and generally happier than on any other day. Sure, he had patrol duty today, but today was different, because today, he was _commanding_. He'd already sent Shinon and Titania ahead on patrol, given Gatrie rear guard, and took vanguard himself, keeping Soren and Rhys in the middle. Not bad, if he did say so himself. Shinon was even being a bit less of a jerk, if he wasn't mistaken.

This jubilant mood stayed with him throughout a small scuffle with some outlying Daein troops—which he won, he might add. It wasn't until Soren found a barely-alive soldier of Crimea that he started to act more like a responsible person than an overzealous teenager. He hurried over to keep his advisor from doing anything permanently damaging—mentally or otherwise—to the wounded soldier.

His worry about Soren driving the officer insane with self-pity or loathing proved unfounded; the man was unconscious. Well, it was unfounded for the moment, anyway. He ordered a search of the surrounding area for other Crimeans, but their officer was the only one. In the short debate that followed, he agreed with Titania: as citizens of Crimea and decent human beings, they should help him. So they took him with them back to the fort.

Later that day, Ike was sitting in the courtyard when he saw Mist entering the kitchen.

"Hey, Mist, what are you doing?" Some apprehension. Not much, but some. She might just be getting something for Rhys. Right.

She flashed him one of her brightest smiles. "Rhys is taking care of that soldier you found, and he asked me to cook dinner tonight!"

Ike nearly choked but turned it into a cough. "That's—ah, that's great!"

"I know!" With another huge grin, she was gone. He got up as well. It was time to have a talk with Rhys about letting his sister cook.

He entered Rhys's office—or the infirmary, whichever you prefer—without much ceremony, and was immediately chastised by the man who should have been making the company's dinner. "Ike, quiet, there's an injured man in here!"

"Oh! Sorry," he said quietly. He'd completely forgotten about the soldier. "How's he coming?"

Rhys gave him a bit of a look, but answered anyway. "I've healed his injuries, but he took a pretty good knock to the head. I don't want to wake him magically."

"Ah. That's—uh, he'll be alright, right?"

Rhys just sighed. "Yes, he'll be fine."

"Good then. Commander Greil wants to question him."

Rhys gave Ike another odd look, but said nothing, and turned away to check his patient's temperature again.

It was after dinner (which, thankfully, everyone survived) before their soldier woke up, and easily another half hour before he was coherent enough to answer questions. What they learned had Greil's Mercenaries in turmoil.

Yes, Daein had invaded Crimea, but the damage was worse than they had known. The attack had been unprovoked and without warning. Daein soldiers laid waste to Crimean cities and towns. The entire royal family had been slaughtered, except—

"Crimea has a princess," Greil's voice boomed quietly to his assembled council, if that was possible. "Daein has captured her. Our soldier friend wants us to rescue her."

"I think we should do it," Titania said without hesitation.

"No," was Soren's rebuttal. "It would be insane. We've never left the fort for so long or fought so far from it. Our people wouldn't know the territory. Besides, we're mercenaries, so if we don't stand to get some payment—"

"Soren, you're awful! Daein just invaded our country, and you want us to do nothing?"

"We're mercenaries, Titania, this is how we make our livelihood. We can't afford to do things just for goodness and decency!"

"We're humans, and Crimeans!"

"Crimea doesn't—"

"If it's money you're worried about, I can make sure you'll be paid," said a voice from the door. All heads turned. It was the soldier, awake, walking, and talking. Surprise, surprise.

"Rhys," Greil said to the man behind him, "Shouldn't he be in bed?"

"What kind of healer do you take me for? Geoffrey's fine," Rhys answered.

"I know the Ki—" Geoffrey broke off and took a few quick, calming breaths, eyes closed against pain. "I know the…" he paused again, foundering for a word. "The Crown will be glad to pay you for rescuing the Princess."

The man positively radiated grief for his fallen monarchs. Even Soren softened, but he didn't show it.

"I think we should do it," Greil said softly. "Any objections?"

"No," Titania said, again without hesitation.

"No," Soren said slowly.

"I'm all for it," Ike said.

"All right then. You three, get the company packed up. Who knows when we might come back?"

The question was quiet, rhetorical, and the three mercenaries were smart enough not to answer.

((A/N: Ok, what did everybody think? This was more of an intro-- you ain't seen nothing yet!))


	2. Chapter 2

Blanket disclaimer still applies, and to all chapters after this.

A/N: Temporally, things might start to get kinda freaky. Just a warning, and yes, I am doing it on purpose. Just take it as it comes, most of the flashbacks have tie-ins.  
One other thing; I couldn't find the name of King Ramon's brother. It was mentioned, what, maybe once? And that at the beginnng? So that's why she just calls him Uncle, unless someone out there knows it and will be kind enough to tell me. Enjoy!

someperson: I promise no Ike x Elincia. It really isn't one that I like anyway. Just... eghhh! I have plenty of other things lined up ;)

* * *

II 

Elincia walked confidently, just to spite the guards, into the room that had been her mother's and immediately regretted it. She had only been here once before, but the memory assaulted her.

"_You _sleep _here?"_

_The woman smiled, bemused at her daughter's wide-eyed innocence, "Yes, but not when I can help it."_

_The child sighed a long, "Wow."_

"_Come to the window, there's a lovely view of the gardens."_

"_Oh!"_

_She stood, taking in the masterpieces of horticulture and engineering. A soft touch on the top of her head almost startled her. The hand slid from her head to her shoulder, and another joined it on the other side. Her mother kneeled so that their eyes were on a level._

_The look in her eyes was deeper than Ellie could understand, but she thought it might be worry. "I wish your father and I could keep you here with us, but I understand why he sent you away. I want you to know that we both love you very much, even when we can't be with you."_

The room was just as warm and inviting as it had been then, but it was empty now. Devoid of life. The thought made it seem almost sinister, with its cheerfully formal chandeliers and intricately patterned carpet. She half expected to find her mother's blood, or maybe that of a maid or retainer, on that carpet. But it was spotless, sterile.

The guard closed the door behind her.

* * *

"So, what you're saying is that we have no idea where the princess is now?" 

"We have _some_ idea…"

"But not for sure."

"No…"

"Soren, leave the poor guy alone already."

"Ike, let me do my job. We can hardly play 'Rescue the Princess' if we don't know where she is."

"OK, but lay off a bit."

Soren stared quietly for a moment, then turned back to Geoffrey.

"Where were you when she was taken?"

"Not far south of the capitol."

"We found you on the South Road," Soren said, and rattled off coordinates that made no sense to Ike.

"Yeah, that sounds about right. Do you think they took her to the capitol?"

"As they already control it, it makes sense." He turned to Ike. "We should check it out."

There were a number of small "scuffles" on the way to Melior; Titania's and Geoffrey's imperial armor drew Daeins like moths to a flame. Or two flames. Ike enjoyed the practice, but had to agree with Soren once they were standing outside the city: drawing attention to them selves once they were inside was a very bad idea. The place was crawling with soldiers.

"Geoffrey, is there anyone you know of who might know where the princess is?" Ike asked.

"You mean like a spy? No, I wasn't—I'm not high enough to know who they are."

"Okay. In that case, we need to send someone in ahead of time…"

* * *

"Ellie, are you ready? There's someone I want you to meet," Uncle's voice came muffled through Ellie's thick door. 

"Yes, Uncle!" she cried, and tugged on the door. She being all of five years old, and the door being very large, she didn't get very far. Her uncle laughed and opened it for her.

He smiled that perfect, uncle-to-favorite-niece smile. "Well, don't you look pretty? Come along, they're in the front room." She trotted to keep up with his long strides.

There was a woman and a boy about Ellie's age. "Elincia, this is William."

"It's very nice to meet you," Ellie remembered to say.

"The pleasure is mine," he replied stiffly with a little bow. Ellie was a bit surprised; she'd forgotten she was Princess again.

"That won't be necessary, William," Uncle said kindly. "Now why don't you two run along and play before dinner?"

Both children gave their respective adults surprised looks, asking permission. They nodded. She hardly ever got to play with anyone her age, so didn't mind playing with William, even if he was a boy. As they scampered from the room, Ellie heard the adults talking.

"Really, I must insist on following protocol more closely in these kinds of situations," the woman said. She had a pretty voice.

"That's hardly necessary, don't you think? There will be plenty of time later to arrange the details…" his voice trailed away as they rounded a stone corner.

The dream ended. She tried to open her eyes, but the light was blinding. She shut her eyes again.

"Ah, Princess, we had begun to fear you wouldn't wake up."

The voice was rich and cultured, male but comforting. Almost enough to put her back to sleep. She didn't know it. That brought her fully awake.

"Ow…" she clutched a hand to her head. Opening her eyes all the way still seemed like a bad idea, but she managed to take a look at him. He was young, with a tanned complexion and a pleasant face, if you were into the aristocratic kind of handsome. But that wasn't what caught her attention—he had blonde hair and black eyes. The combination was so unfamiliar that she caught herself staring.

"Like what you see?" he asked softly.

Elincia panicked, flushed, and looked away. Unfortunately, the only other place she had to look was up, and the light brought the headache back full force. She winced.

"I'll close the curtains," the man said.

Now she could finally open her eyes properly. What she saw was not her mother's ceiling.

"Where am I?" she tried to keep the panic out of her face.

"Now, now, Princess, you're much too ill to be worrying about things like that."

"I'm not ill."

"You've been out for over a day. I beg to differ."

That thought worried her, but she could sense she wouldn't be getting anything out of him. Time for another approach. "Who are you?"

That made him smile. It wasn't a smile she could say she liked. "Ryons, at your service," he said with a bow.

Right. Well, that told her a lot. "I don't suppose you could you could give me more than just your name?"

"As I said, Princess, you should be resting. Don't worry about such details now.

The bed she was laying on heaved in a quite unmistakable manner. "Am I on a _boat?_" she cried.

"If you feel seasick, Princess, I could send for the healer…?" he seemed genuinely worried. Almost enough to keep her from getting angry with him. Almost.

"_Why_ am I on a boat?" she snarled.

"I'll send for the healer right away." He said it _calmly_, the smug jerk. "And, Princess, I would not say such things in the presence of the captain. He insists that she is a ship."

He turned and left with a bow. She wanted to pointedly ask why she was on a _ship_ without her consent, but she would have been talking to empty air.

* * *

A/N: So, what do you think? There will be a lot of Ryons in the future, so I hope you like him at least a little bit. He's too much fun to write for me to get rid of him ;) 


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